Adam Gase – December 14, 2017
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Thursday, December 14, 2017
Head Coach Adam Gase
(What’s been the thing that you’ve liked most about WR Jarvis Landry and WR Kenny Stills as a receiving duo this year? They’ve produced 14 touchdowns.) – “I think they’ve been very reliable. They’re available. Those guys, especially in the red zone, they’ve done a really good job of being where they’re supposed to be. This last game, the second touchdown Jarvis had, I don’t even know if we’ve ever thrown him the ball on that. That was a good job by him doing what he was supposed to do and he found that window. And then Kenny, a lot of his touchdowns seem to come from a little further out; but when he gets a one-on-one matchup, he figures out a way to get open.”
(Has the change in quarterback, does that affect receivers going from QB Matt Moore to QB Jay Cutler?) – “I don’t know if it really changes that much for us. Our guys are going to try to be where they’re supposed to be and then whether … I think it’s really just how those guys are feeling on that given day. I know there’s been some games where Jay’s been able to move around pretty good and some games he’s kind of just staying in the pocket and hasn’t been as active as he was this last game.”
(There were nine DNPs on the injury report yesterday. I don’t want to ask about every one of them but are there any that really stand out or any that you’re concerned about?) – “I don’t know if we’ve really changed that much from week to week. I mean we’ll keep trying to get Damien (Williams) going here. That’s really going to be … When he’s kind of ready to go and the same thing with ‘Bush’ (Jermon Bushrod). The rest of those guys, really we’ve been doing … The older guys we’ve been kind of keeping out on Wednesdays and we’ll try to get them going today.”
(CB Cordrea Tankersley I guess is the one that …?) – “Yes, I mean we’re trying to get him back. I felt like he got a couple of things hurt on the same play. It’s tough.”
(What comes with you having so many guys inactive? Players were playing in so many different spots. You had WR Jarvis Landry lining up at running back or WR Jakeem Grant in the backfield. You’re basically able to change personnel without substitution. Is that something that this team can build upon? Is it something that you can move to going to in the future?) – “Yes, I think anytime that you can be multiple and keep the defense guessing what you’re doing and run-pass options. You just try to find as many ways to get the ball in our playmakers hands. Really, that’s the most important thing is it becomes tough to get Jarvis the ball sometimes because like last game, he was doubled on so many snaps. That’s why other guys were popping open and we had some guys running free because he’s being accounted for. There are different ways teams do it. I think we saw like three or four different ways that New England did it and sometimes I don’t even … Until he watches the film, I don’t think he really realizes that sometimes they’re having the linebacker come flying out there and he was underneath, and the nickel was staying over the top. I mean there were some creative ways to double him this last game. It’s just if the quarterback makes a mistakes, that’s when a turnover will happen trying to force him the ball. All of those guys did a good job of just doing their job and Jay (Cutler) did a good job of staying with his progression.”
(How do you balance the fine line of coaching RB Kenyan Drake to avoid the minus plays while not changing him too much and having him still look for the home run?) – “Well, he hasn’t really put himself in position … Any of the minus plays have been kind of on us more than anybody. I mean he’s saved us on both those – the touchdown run and the one last game where we had an unblocked guy right in the hole and he saved us from a minus play. Really, any negative yardage he’s had, we’ve either been beat too quick to where he really couldn’t do anything about it or we just didn’t have the right call for what they were doing.”
(You guys have been averaging 24 points in the six games you’ve played since the RB Jay Ajayi trade. I don’t want to put it on Jay but is there any underlying theme of why the offense has sort of ticked upwards?) – “I think that’s going to be one of those things that I’m going to have to look at at the end of the year of what happened, before and after. It’s hard to – like when you’re in the middle of it – it’s hard to really kind of figure that out. I do think we’ve done a better job of executing some things. Guys have really probably made plays when we haven’t had a great play call and we’ve done something special as a player that you really don’t coach. It will be something we’ll have to evaluate at the end of the season of what really started … Where did we start sliding and why did things kind of start getting better?”
(With your offense the last two years, do you realize that I guess you’re 10-1 in games where you’ve rushed for 100 yards. Is there any kind of correlation that you could put to it?) – “I think there was a time where somebody told me if Jay (Ajayi) got 25 touches, we never lost. Well, I think it happened this year at some point. I just know we’ve got to score one more point than the other team. A lot of times though, when you have good rushing numbers, you’re probably winning and you’re running the ball at the end of game. They’re bringing everybody. All it takes is the running back beats one guy and you can pop some big ones. It’s hard for me to correlate those things because every game is just so different.”
(You’ve been getting contributions from guys maybe in ways that you didn’t envision when the season started. T Sam Young at right tackle, CB Torry McTyer in the secondary on Sunday, TE MarQueis Gray in the backfield. How critical has that evolution been for you guys and is there anyone that we haven’t picked up on at some level?) – “I think if you’re on this roster, we just anticipate you’re going to have to play, and when you do, we can’t have a drop off. That’s the reminder we give the rookies right at the beginning of the season. Cam Wake is not going to care that you’re a rookie in Week 9. He’s going to expect you to do your job and do it well. We’re not looking for those outs. Players aren’t looking for the out of ‘Hey, I’m a rookie.’ Nobody cares. If you step on the field, they expect you to play like a guy that’s been playing for 10 years. That’s where that internal pressure on some of these younger guys kind of comes from those veteran players that do it right all the time. They expect you to do it right on Sundays.”
(How many different ways has TE MarQueis Gray do you think lined up this year?) – “I don’t even know. We try to use him where we can, when it fits in. There’s been some stuff where we’ve had some things and we never got to it. We just keep trying to build his library up and when the time is right to put him in, that’s when we do it. Last week we were able to kind of use him a little bit and he made some plays and helped us move the ball.”
(What does it say about WR Jarvis Landry that on a night where he’s doubled through most of the game, he’s still able to get big catches?) – “It’s impressive because it’s no different than when you watch (Ndamukong) Suh get double-teamed for 61 plays. You wonder how he gets a sack or how he gets tackles for losses. Good players find a way to get open no matter what other teams do against them.”
(What was your comfort level with the celebration of WR Jarvis Landry’s touchdown celebration?) – “I never pay attention so I never know what’s … Matt tells me after the game about something that happens. I’m like I really don’t care so …”
(You showed some wrinkles in this last game. I assume you do that and we don’t notice in other games. Can you do that every game? Is it fair to expect that you should be able to come up with something every game?) – “I mean you can, but if they’re not a team that runs certain defenses, it’ll probably not look right. It probably won’t be open. I mean there are certain coverages that are good to be able to do things like that. There are certain teams you want to play (in order to do that). Every team is different and some of the stuff that we did this week, we’ve done before. It just probably looked different because Jakeem (Grant) was in there and we just had a bunch of different personnel groupings. I mean a little bit of it is trying to take a little off (Kenyan) Drake and put Senorise (Perry) in there every once in a while; but it’s just different ways for us to kind of use guys to where Drake can get a second to get a blow.”
(And what about defense?) – “I think defense it was those guys were feeling good as far as what was going on early. I think the more confidence we gain throughout the game, the corners were doing a good job. And when that happens, then (Defensive Coordinator) Matt’s (Burke) able to really get aggressive. If we get a little bit of a lead, then we can kind of turn those guys loose and Matt can be aggressive. The corners were playing well, so I think what he did was a lot of really good things that we haven’t been able to get to.”
(With the way that CB Bobby McCain is playing on the outside, is it possible to re-think maybe he’s our best guy out there and not CB Cordrea Tankersley?) – “The one thing is, Bobby is playing really well inside, as well. I don’t know when we’re going to get ‘Tank’ back. I just know our guys are always going to do everything they can to play well, and if Bobby’s number gets called outside, he’s very confident, as I’m sure you guys know. He’s very confident in his abilities and he’ll do whatever we ask him to do. We’re always going to look at that, though. Whatever the best thing for us to do that week (is), that’s what we’ll do.”
(Obviously everybody plays in the same conditions, I’ve heard the story. All snow games don’t really matter, players say that before they go play in it. As a play caller, do you have to change your approach in terms of concern about footing and conditions and field?) – “Yes. That’s every week. What (Buffalo) played in last week, that was crazy. I only can think of that Detroit vs. Philadelphia game. When you watch guys trying to … Nobody’s going anywhere. I feel like when I started watching the game, it was just stoppage of play and it kept building up and nobody was moving in it. The first time you saw a guy running out of the huddle, he’s taking these huge strides. I started thinking like, ‘Wow, what would I be calling?’ I thought what both sides were doing, they had some good stuff. Indianapolis had some really nice plays that kind of used (the snow) to their advantage, and so did Buffalo. You have an idea of what you should do, but until you’re in that situation, you’re probably learning as the game goes on.”
(When you have a running back that can run inside, outside, line up out wide or in the slot or wherever, how does that benefit your offense and what kind of bind does that put the defense in?) – “It just makes them declare what they want to do. Like the guy (LeSean McCoy) we’re playing this week, you’ve just got to be careful who ends up one-on-one with him, because when you’ve got one of the better players in the league, if he can get you in space, he becomes a big time issue. Any time you can have running backs or tight ends that puts the defense in a situation where if they want to play man and you have an advantage there, if it’s too big of an advantage, you can’t play any man. That eliminates certain coverages. As a play caller, you start eliminating what they possibly could run.”
(The kneel downs, it seemed like the Patriots may have been a little chippy. What do you tell your players there? Obviously, we’ve seen what it can become at the end.) – “The game’s going on. You can tell if a guy’s going to come off the ball. They weren’t that surprised. That’s why I’ve always looked at it as if you’ve got the whole d-line standing up, they’re probably not coming. If they’re in four-point stances ready to come off the ball, you better come off the ball. The game’s still going on. That’s not a give-up play.”
(We saw it get ugly in Jacksonville because they took issue with that. You have no problem with full speed defense on the kneel down?) – “If you play Seattle and it’s a 2-point game, (Seahawks DE) Michael Bennett is going to try to find a way to get a turnover. We saw, I think in 2012 when we played Tampa, we talked about it. We had a specific way we were going to go about handling it. If the game is going on, you’ve got to be ready to play.”
